How to Use This Course

Who this is for

You play guitar, you know the names of the notes, a few open and barre chords, and that major and minor scales exist. Reading standard notation helps but is not required: everything here is written as note names, scale degrees and tab.

This course takes you from there to writing complete instrumental pieces and full songs, improvising with intent, and arranging for a band. Piano appears as a second instrument because it makes theory visible. If you do not own one, the on-screen keyboard in the lessons is enough.

How the course is built

There are 10 modules and 34 lessons. Each lesson has the same parts:

1. The idea explains one concept in plain words.
2. On your instrument shows how it lives on guitar (and piano where useful).
3. Worked example shows the concept in real music you can play right away.
4. Exercises are the course. Do them before moving on.
5. Common mistakes and Check yourself close the lesson.

Most lessons contain interactive tools: a fretboard and keyboard that play, players for progressions and drum patterns, ear trainers and quizzes. All of them are also collected on the Practice tools page.

Pacing

At several hours per week, plan one module per one to two weeks.

• Modules 1 to 4 are the engine of everything else. Do not rush them.
• Modules 5 to 10 are where you produce real music. Start writing from Module 4 onward.

The one rule

Everything you learn must end up under your fingers and in your ears within 24 hours of reading it. Theory you cannot hear or play is trivia.

Notation used here

Thing	How it is written
Notes	Letters: C D E F G A B. B is the note a half step below C (the German and older Ukrainian “H”); B♭ is B flat.
Chords	C, Am, G7, Cmaj7, F♯m7♭5, Csus4, C/E (the note after the slash is the bass note)
Scale degrees	Numbers measured against the major scale: 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7
Roman numerals	I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii° (upper case is major, lower case is minor, ° is diminished)
Guitar strings	Numbered 6 (low E) to 1 (high E)
Frets	Written string:fret, so 6:5 means 6th string, 5th fret (the note A)
Octaves	Middle C is C4. The open low E string is E2.

In tab, the top line is the 1st (thinnest) string and the bottom line is the 6th, as in every tab book:

e|-----------------|
B|-----------------|
G|-----------------|
D|-------7---------|
A|-----7-----------|
E|---5-------------|   A power chord, one note at a time

What you need

• A guitar, in tune. A clean and a distorted sound if you have an amp or a plug-in.
• Any way to record yourself: a phone is enough.
• A notebook (paper or digital) for riffs, progressions and melodies. You will reuse them across modules.
• Optional: a keyboard, a looper or a DAW.